Amendment_2_RFI_HSFE70-16-I-0026.pdf

FEMA

Response Directorate: Emergency Medical Services

Request for Information: HSFE70-16-I-0026

INTRODUCTION

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY.

This Request for Information (RFI) is issued solely for information and market research planning purposes; it does not constitute a solicitation or a promise to issue a solicitation. Furthermore, those who respond to this

RFI should not anticipate feedback with regards to its submission; other than acknowledgment of receipt –

ONLY IF a request for an acknowledgement is requested by the submitter. This RFI does not commit the

Government to contract for any supply or service. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is not seeking proposals at this time. Responders are advised that the U.S. Government will not pay any costs incurred in response to this RFI. All costs associated with responding to this RFI will be solely at the interested party’s expense. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future solicitation.

The information provided in this RFI is subject to change and is not binding on the Government. All submissions become the property of the Federal Government, and will not be returned.

Any information that the vendor considers proprietary should be clearly marked as such.

1. Background:

a. Summary: The Response Directorate within FEMA coordinates and provides the core Federal disaster response capability needed to save lives, reduce suffering, and protect property in communities throughout the Nation that have been overwhelmed by the impact of a major disaster or emergency, regardless of cause. The Response Directorate must ensure that Federal emergency response systems and capabilities are properly poised to lean forward to support States and communities overwhelmed by disasters and emergencies. Support to declared or undeclared emergencies and disaster response operations where the location of performance will vary depending on operational needs. The source shall be able to provide Contractor-managed multi-functional medical support resources and capabilities needed in support of Federal assistance, evacuations, or other medical support activations for national events. The support resources shall be in the form of both staffed medical transport capabilities as well as licensed and certified medical personnel for augmentation beyond medical transportation throughout the Continental United States.

Current State: FEMA has a contract in place with sufficient personnel, equipment and supplies to support all zones for a full zone activation.

FEMA RFI – HSFE70-16-I-0026

RESPONSE DIRECTORATE

Capabilities:

FEMA has a need for medically related support services to include but not be limited to:

a. Medical Transportation

i. Advanced Life Support (ALS) or Basic Life Support (BLS) Ground Ambulances

ii. Para-transit support

iii. Medical Airlift

b. Medical Personnel

i. Emergency Medical Technician (EMT)

ii. Paramedic

c. Field Operations Team (FOT)

d. Communication Support Team (CST)

e. Planning and Exercise Support Services

f. Critical Care Transport

The Contractor must be able to provide all six services in the zone.

FEMA has divided the 48 contiguous states into four geographical zones.

This contract will be required to provide the described services to the services to the following zones:

Zone 1 includes the states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Florida.

Zone 2 includes the states of South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine.

Zone 3 includes the states of Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Nevada, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico.

Zone 4 includes the states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio.

The Contractor may be requested to provide support in areas outside of the awarded zone(s). Such requests shall be a best effort with prices and costs to be determined at the time of the request.

Readiness shall take place at the Contractor’s facility. Task Orders will designate the exact locations for other services to be provided.

A “full zone requirement” shall consist of the following resources:

300 medically staffed ground ambulances (a combination of ALS and BLS)

25 medically staffed aircraft (combination of fixed- and rotary-wing)

3500 para-transit seats

150 medical support personnel (combination of EMTs and paramedics)

1 Operations Support Team (to be determined by scope of task)

1 Communications Support Team (to be determined by scope of task)

5-10 Critical Care Transport Ambulance

It shall be the sole responsibility of the Contractor to properly staff all deployed resources for safe, effective, and continuous operations. When resources are ordered to respond to an event, it is expected that the Contractor provide enough personnel and assets as necessary to perform the required duties 24 hours a day, seven (7) days a week during the period of performance stipulated in each task order.

Description of Requirement

The Contractor shall maintain a repository of all potential medical responders to substantiate insurance, certifications, licenses, and training as required by State and local authorities in their State of origin. The

Contractor shall also maintain records of participation by its employees in continuing education programs and reports showing frequency and type of medical incidents. The Contractor is responsible for providing a validation report containing personnel names and any data required to verify credentials, given their respective disciplines, at the centralized check-in area within 24 hours of activation.

At the request of the COR and as a readiness and activation monitoring tool, the Contractor shall immediately validate the credentials of all prospective responders.

Supplies

It shall be the sole responsibility of the Contractor to properly stock all deployed vehicles for safe, effective, and continuous 24 hour per day operations. The Contractor shall be responsible for obtaining fuel for all Contractor deployed ground and air resources.

Vehicle Identification

All transportation resources deployed pursuant to this contract shall display FEMA-approved placards with the following characteristics: Identify them as FEMA National Ambulance or Para-transit Contractors; Contractor’s identifying logo; distinct unit number issued by Contractor; and type or level of resource/asset. The Contractor may elect to store caches of reserve ambulances. At time of activation, these vehicles will be marked with special placards identifying them as reserve ambulances. FEMA shall require that vehicles and personnel are properly identified as FEMA contract assets. An example of a vehicle placard and personnel ID

Reserve Ambulance Caches

The Contractor may stockpile caches of reserve ambulances. These ambulances are to be used for task order response only and will not be used in non-task order daily EMS operations. The Contractor shall ensure that these resources are not part of a state or local EMAC agreement. The vehicles will be required to be registered pursuant to state laws and regulations however they will not be required to be permitted/licensed as an ambulance by the EMS Office in the state and/or local jurisdiction in which they are stored since they will not be used for routine EMS response in that state or local jurisdiction.

However, all reserve ambulance units shall be properly equipped and Fully Mission Capable (FMC)

They will be required to display a placard on the vehicle that identifies them as a resource to be used only pursuant to this FEMA contract. If these vehicles do have license plates from the state(s) where the task order occurs, they will be allowed to respond pursuant to this contract.

Services

It shall be the sole responsibility of the Contractor to properly staff all deployed resources for safe, effective, and continuous 24 hour per day operations. The Contractor is responsible for logistics such as planning, stocking and maintenance of all resources. All labor and equipment required for the following services are defined below:

Medical Transportation

ALS or BLS Ground Ambulances

The Contractor shall provide up to 300 ground ambulances per zone as specified in the Task Order. The

Contractor shall have adequately certified and trained ground ambulance personnel to staff up to 70% with ALS and up to 30% with BLS per each zone.

Critical Care Ambulances

The Contractor shall provide 5% of a full zone deployment of ALS ambulances outfitted with additional biomedical equipment, drugs and supplies to transport critical care patients, in accordance with Critical Care

Transport (CCT) as defined by Association of Air Medical Services (AAMS). This capability is made available to the state/local entities for no longer than 72 hours.

CCT ground ambulances are staffed by a minimum of one driver and two medical attendants, one of which must be a certified Critical Care Paramedic, Critical Care RN, Critical Care Advanced Practice Nurse or licensed physician (M.D. or D.O.) with specialized training in critical care or emergency medicine.

Para-transit services

The Contractor shall provide up to 3,500 para-transit passenger seats per zone as specified in the Task Order.

Passenger seats and para-transit vehicles equipped with wheelchair lifts shall not exceed 25% of the 3,500 total seats. Non-ambulatory passengers who can sit upright without assistance may be transported in vehicles without wheelchair lifts if the passengers can safely be loaded on and off the vehicle using a portable patient carrying device. The one-way distance to transport para-transit passengers shall not exceed 250 miles.

Para-transit vehicles may be staffed by non-medically trained drivers whose primary responsibility is safe vehicle operation.

Medical support during transport shall be provided by the assigned caregivers, the facility of origin, or other medical resource.

Medical Airlift Services Transportation

The Contractor shall provide medical airlift services (fixed and rotary wing) to include: aircraft with flight crew and air medical crew (AMC) capable of providing critical care (CC), ALS or BLS, medical supplies and equipment as specified in the Task Order.

All contracted aircraft shall be available for operation until the FAA grounds aircraft due to weather or safety concerns.

Medical Personnel Services

The Contractor shall have the capability of providing a minimum of 150 EMT and paramedic medical positions per zone to perform all requirements specified in Task Orders awarded under this IDIQ contract. All personnel assigned to the EMT and paramedic positions shall possess the appropriate certifications and licenses

Field Operations Team (FOT)

The Contractor shall provide a FOT team. The operations team shall be the Contractor’s representative between the COR and the deployed resources while responding to an event. The FOT shall direct the deployed resources in response to direction from the COR. The Contractor shall determine which team positions to fill based on the size and scope of the issued task order and the span of control. The Contractor shall provide a construct of the recommended field operations support team in conjunction with each task authorization for consideration by

FEMA prior to the issuance of a task order. The Contractor shall be solely responsible for all logistics and support of the operations team.

Communication Support Team (CST)

The Contractor shall provide a dedicated communication team responsible for providing communication services in the event that the existing infrastructure fails. The Contractor is expected to establish and support communication infrastructure to manage the medical component, ambulance tracking system, and one-on-one communication resources necessary for the successful performance of this contract. The CST shall utilize organic, sub-contracted, and Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) to establish voice communications where possible. The Contractor shall provide a construct of the recommended communications support team in conjunction with each task authorization for consideration by the CO and COR prior to the issuance of a task order.

Moreover, the CST shall integrate communication constructs within the theatre of operations (TOO). The CST shall arrive at the VSA within 24 hours to support and maintain communication continuity.

Planning and Exercise Support Services

The Contractor shall provide subject matter expertise in support of planning and exercise medical response and support activities at the state and federal level requested on a task-by-task basis.

Planning and exercise scope, effort and deliverables shall be determined on a task order basis.

Multi-Modal Transportation Medical Services

The Contractor shall supply paramedics and EMTs with the required certification within this contract to perform medical support services in support of multi-modal transportation. Such support may occur within trains, buses, or other transportation modes utilized in purpose of transporting persons/evacuees.

Fixed Location Medical Support

The Contractor shall supply paramedics and EMTs with the required certification to be stationed within shelters, airheads, triage centers, or other fixed locations.

Equipment

Ground Resources

Ambulances

The Contractor shall provide ground ambulance vehicles based on the FEMA Typed Resource Definitions, Emergency Medical Services Resources:

Type II – ALS Non-Hazmat

Type IV – BLS Non-Hazmat

Type V – Bariatric Advanced Life Support

Type VI – Med-Evac Bus (≥ 4 litters)

Para-Transit Vehicles.

Contractor shall provide para-transit vehicles based on the FEMA Typed Resource Definitions, Emergency

Medical Services Resources.

Type I – Sedan/Minivan (1-7 seats)

Type II – Minibus (8-26 seats)

Type III – Transit Bus (>26 seats)

Type IV – Wheelchair Van (1-9 seats with wheelchair lift)

Type V – ADA Minibus (10-26 seats with wheelchair lift)

Type VI – ADA Transit Bus (>26 seats with wheelchair lift)

Air Resources

Fixed-wing Aircraft

Contractor shall provide fixed-wing aircraft based on the FEMA Typed Resource Definitions, Emergency

Type I – CC and ALS

Type II – CC and ALS

Type III – ALS

Type IV – BLS

Type V – Neonatal

Rotary-wing Aircraft

Contractor shall provide rotary-wing aircraft based on the FEMA Typed Resource Definitions, Emergency

Type II – ALS

Type III – ALS

Type IV – ALS

Type V – Neonatal Specific

2. Purpose of this RFI:

a. To determine industry capabilities for providing Emergency Medical Services to FEMA.

b. To determine industry capability to provide Contractor-managed multi-functional medical support resources and capabilities needed in support of Federal assistance, evacuations, or other medical support activations for national events. The support resources shall be in the form of both staffed medical transport capabilities as well as licensed and certified medical personnel for augmentation beyond medical transportation throughout the Continental United States.

3. Request for Information (RFI) Questions:

a. Is there any additional information not specifically requested in this questionnaire that is particular to your services or inventory?

4. RFI Response Format:

In order to better assist in the review of submittals to this RFI, respondents are encouraged to prepare a capabilities statement that closely adheres to the following format:

The document format shall be either Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx), or Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) formats.

Responses shall be prepared using 12 pt. font, 1 inch margins, and 8.5” by 11” paper and shall not exceed ten

(10) pages in length, including images, data displays, charts, graphs, and tables.

Respondents are encouraged to ensure that their submittals are complete and address all items outlined within this RFI. Respondents may provide additional promotional literature in addition to their response as long as the literature conforms to the response format. Submissions in response to this RFI shall not exceed 10 pages.

Response Deadline and Point of Contact Information:

Responses to this notice should be submitted in the form of Microsoft Word and/or PDF (searchable format) documents attached to emails received no later than Friday, September, 30, 2016 at 12:00 PM EST to:

Contract Specialist Kimberly Coakley: Kimberly.Coakley@fema.dhs.gov or

Contracting Officer Bianca Meira-Penna: Bianca.Meira-Penna@fema.dhs.gov.

Interested parties are requested to submit a statement of capability outlining past work that is related to this requirement. The statement of capability shall also include the information listed below:

1) Company Name/Division, mailing address, e-mail address, telephone, FAX numbers, and website address

(if available).

2) Single point-of-contact name, title, telephone, and email address.

3) DUNS number, CAGE Code, Tax Identification Number (TIN), and company structure

(Corporation, LLC, partnership, joint venture, etc.). Please note that companies must be registered in the

System for Award Management (SAM) to be considered potential sources

(https://www.sam.gov/portal/public/SAM/).

4) A statement addressing whether the company has an accounting system that has been determined adequate by DCAA or another cognizant audit agency for purposes of performing work on a Federal government cost type contract.

mailto:Kimberly.Coakley@fema.dhs.gov mailto:Bianca.Meira-Penna@fema.dhs.gov

5) A statement addressing whether the company has a property management system that has been determined acceptable for use on a Federal government contract.

6) Applicable NAICS code under which the company customarily does business.

7) Business size for NAICS Code 621910 Ambulance Services and socio-economic status, if qualified as one or more of the following:

a) 8(a) firm (must be certified by SBA)

b) Small Disadvantaged Business (must be certified by SBA)

c) Woman-Owned Small Business

d) HUBZone firm (must be certified by SBA)

e) Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (must be listed in the VetBiz Vendor Information pages)

8) If a teaming arrangement is contemplated, discuss potential team members.

9) A description of the firm’s ability to perform the work and any other information you believe to be important and germane to the purposes of this RFI.

The responses received will assist FEMA with identifying the number and nature of the entities that consider themselves feasible technical solution providers, as well as any teaming arrangements that may evolve as a result of this requirement.

Each respondent, by submitting a response, agrees that any cost incurred by it in responding to this request, or in support of activities associated with this RFI, shall be the sole responsibility of respondent. FEMA shall incur no obligations or liabilities whatsoever, to anyone, for any costs or expenses incurred by the respondent in responding to this RFI. Responses to this RFI will not be returned.

5. Industry Discussions

Some respondents may be asked to provide additional information regarding the matters addressed in this RFI.

Such requests will be provided approximately 4 weeks following the deadline to respond to this RFI. Those respondents will be contacted directly if there is a need for further information.

6. Questions

Respondents may submit questions regarding this RFI to the contact(s) listed below. Responses to questions may be posted on FEDBIZOPPS. Please send any questions you may have to the Contract Specialist, Kimberly

Coakley: Kimberly.Coakley@fema.dhs.gov and Contracting Officer, Bianca Meira-Penna: Bianca.Meira-

Penna@fema.dhs.gov by Friday, September, 23, 2016 at 12:00 PM EST. Each question shall provide the section and page number of the particular item being referred to in this RFI.

mailto:Kimberly.Coakley@fema.dhs.gov